Virtual PBX vs. Hosted PBX

Virtual PBX & Hosted PBX Explained:

Many people think that the term “Virtual PBX” is synonymous with “Hosted PBX” or “Cloud-based PBX”. Although both provide a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than a premise-based phone system, they are not identical. There are actually significant differences between the two – namely in regards to functionality. The major difference being that one, the Virtual PBX, is just an automated answering service and call director and the other, a Hosted PBX, is a complete, professional phone system.

VIRTUAL PBX

A Virtual PBX is not a complete system on its own, but is just one part of a Hosted PBX system, best described as an automated answering service that provides routing options to handle and transmit inbound calls. This type of system does not have call control features or outbound calling, but instead reroutes incoming calls to cell phones, landlines or VoIP extensions via an auto attendant or interactive voice response (IVR).

These systems are cheaper than Cloud-based PBX solutions, but lack significant business communication features. They are best suited for very small offices / home offices that need to keep costs extremely low. Like with a Hosted PBX solutions, there is no need to purchase any new hardware – users can get a toll free number and point it to employee’s landlines, cell phones or even free soft phones. It can also handle a few advanced call forwarding features like find me/follow me.

It’s important to note that this system does not replace your existing outbound phone service, but will be an additional expense on top of it. Also, there are no call control features and employees cannot be connected via extension dialling. Additionally, calls between locations will not be free as they would be with a Hosted PBX and a Virtual PBX also does not provide productivity benefits such as unified messaging or presence. As your business grows, it is inevitable that you will outgrow this solution and will need to replace it.

HOSTED PBX

A Cloud-based or Hosted PBX is a complete business VoIP system that routes inbound as well as outbound calls and provides enterprise-level features. Organizations with high volumes of calls or with more than 10 employees should consider bypassing a Virtual PBX and going directly to a Hosted PBX solution.

In most cases, Hosted PBX providers will replace your current phone company, you will be connected through a router, and you will likely use IP phones. A Cloud-based PBX provides one main number for all calls, with extension dialling, regardless of employees’ locations and is a good fit for organizations with multiple locations, even those geographically disbursed around the world. It offers such enterprise-class features as call forwarding, unified messaging (voicemail to email), call hold, find me/follow me, three-way conference, auto attendant and more.

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The Evolve IP Compliance CloudTM

Compliance is a way to do business … not an afterthought when clients need it.

At Evolve IP we have a dedicated compliance and security practice and work with two of the world’s top 3rd-party compliance auditors, Grant Thornton and Ernst & Young, to enable customers to extend their compliance to our fully audited cloud. This focus allows us to deliver the documentation and assurances that other’s simply cannot including HIPAA / HITRUST, PCI-DSS (all 12 sections), ITAR, SOC 2/3 and more. The Compliance CloudTM includes true client isolation, encryption in transit and at rest, private VLANs, firewalls and dozens of other security measures.

What Our Clients Say

I have been part of 5 enterprise phone system migrations during my 20+ year career, and have never had one go as smoothly as this one. We had 200+ users, plus our contact center supporting members and clients all over the country, move to the new platform overnight with minimal disruption!

Nathan Holman, Vice President of Information Technology

I've used other phone systems in the past and the thing I like about Evolve VOIP is the convenience. I have one team that is entirely remote and being able to have them easily accessible just like my other team that is in the office is invaluable. Even for my team that is in the office it is a great thing to know that if we need to work out of the office we can easily take our customers calls and assist them.
·Evolve VOIP, Unity tool, Supervisor Client, Dashboard

Rose Runkhouser, Support Services Manager

We have used Evolve to deploy VOIP to our corporate offices and three branches. The professionalism of the Evolve team has made the transition seamless. We will continue to use Evolve as our company, matchboxfoodgroup, expands.

Brian Anderson

"With Cloud Connect, we have eliminated intermittent phone and internet service drops, increased the reliability of daily business tasks like writing e-prescriptions. We’ve even resolved printing issues. We have zero down time now as a result of connectivity because we’re always up and running.”

Alex Fuchs, IT Director for CCMD

UC-One works seamlessly with Skype for Business, Office 365’s instant messenger capability, enabling employees to run just one instant messenger solution. The solution talks seamlessly with Outlook and makes everyone’s job easier - including mine.

Network Operations Specialist - Nick Giotti

What the Experts Think

Our analyst-acclaimed solutions are built on a world-class, compliant architecture that leverages the blue-chip technologies organizations already know and trust.

HITRUST

Evolve IP is proud to have achieved the honor of being HITRUST CSF certified! Certification to the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) affirms that all of Evolve IP’s cloud computing and cloud communications services adhere to the strictest security standards for electronic protected health information (PHI). The HITRUST security standard was developed by and for the healthcare industry as a means of going above and beyond the compliance requirements of HIPAA.

The HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) was developed to address the multitude of security, privacy and regulatory challenges facing healthcare organizations. The HITRUST CSF was developed by healthcare and IT professionals to provide an efficient and prescriptive framework for managing the security requirements inherent in HIPAA. HITRUST CSF rationalizes healthcare-relevant regulations and standards into a single overarching security framework. An important part of the “What is HITRUST” answer is understanding that the CSF is risk-based and compliance-based so that organizations can tailor the security control baselines and vendor management programs that they follow based on their specific organization type, size, systems, and regulatory requirements.

HIPPA

The Privacy regulations of the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require health care providers, organizations, and their business associates, develop and follow procedures that ensure the confidentiality and security of protected health information (PHI) when it is transferred, received, handled, or shared. This applies to all forms of PHI — paper, oral, and electronic, etc. Those who fail to adhere to HIPAA can suffer from huge fines climbing into the millions of dollars for major violations.

The Compliance Cloud™ fully enables covered entities and their business associates subject to HIPAA regulations to leverage a secure environment to process, maintain, and store protected health Information (PHI) featuring among other controls.

SSAW 16 Service Organization Control II (SOC 2)

Evolve IP has received an SSAE 16 SOC 2 Type II report on our internal controls relating to how we assess and address the potential risks associated with the security, availability, and confidentiality of not only the cloud-based services that we provide, but also our physical and logical infrastructure. Evolve IP utilizes the Certified Public Accounting firm of Grant Thornton to perform its annual audit and attestation in accordance with the Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 and the associated Trust Services Principles, as published by the AICPA, to evaluate the effectiveness of Evolve IP’s service organizations controls.

Forbes

While Forbes regularly features coverage and recognition about Evolve IP, they've most recently recognized Evolve IP as being the "Best Cloud Computing Companies And CEOs To Work For In 2017". They've ranked Evolve IP in the Top 3 just behind Google and Microsoft in the Cloud Infrastructure classification. (Feb 2017). Forbes also recently recognizes Evolve IP for bringing Singer Equipment Corporation, a mainstream business based in PA, into the cloud by means of unified communication. (Sept 2017). Last year, Forbes recognized Evolve IP's survey of 1,080 executives citing that the number one reason to go to the cloud is the same reason that it is avoided. (Mar 2016).

Unified Communications Product of the Year

TMC and Internet Telephony Magazine have named Evolve IP’s unified communications platform as a 2017 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award winner. This marks the 6th time Evolve IP has been honored with this prestigious award and follows a series of product innovations that have allowed the company to rapidly expand its international coverage.

Evolve IP’s business collaboration tools and IP phone system dramatically improve employee productivity in the office and on the road with a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform that fully integrates voice, video, instant messaging & presence (IM&P), desktop sharing, audio/web conferencing and more. The company also provides a sophisticated Web-based management portal, OSSmosis®, that allows administrators to easily configure system functions and quickly modify users without the need to reach out to a third party for changes.

Inc.

Inc. magazine has recognized Evolve IP in the 34th annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive listing of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list will be unveiled in the September issue of Inc.

The story of this year's Inc. 5000 is the story of great leadership. In an incredibly competitive business landscape, it takes something extraordinary to take your company to the top," says Inc. President and Editor-In-Chief Eric Schurenberg. "You have to remember that the average company on the Inc. 5000 grew nearly six-fold since 2012. Business owners don't achieve that kind of success by accident.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

Evolve IP has achieved Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) compliance covering all 12 sections of the PCI DSS. The PCI data security standard is a comprehensive set of standards that require merchants and service providers that store, process, or transmit customer payment card data to adhere to strict information security controls and processes. It was created by the founding brands of the PCI Security Standards Council, which includes American Express, Discover Financial, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc.

CSA STAR

Evolve IP is also a registered and participating member of the CSA Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR). The CSA was formed to encourage transparency of security practices within cloud providers. It is a free, publicly accessible registry that documents the security controls provided by various cloud computing offerings, thereby helping users assess the security of cloud providers they currently use or are considering contracting with. CSA STAR is open to all cloud providers, and allows them to submit assessment reports that document compliance to CSA published best practices. The searchable registry will allow potential cloud customers to review the security practices of providers, accelerating their due diligence and leading to higher quality procurement experiences. CSA STAR represents a major leap forward in industry transparency, encouraging providers to make security capabilities a market differentiator.

Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500TM

Evolve IP has been ranked for the second consecutive year on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America – both public and private. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2012 to 2015. The list is a veritable Who’s Who of technology that has included tech companies like Google, VMware and Facebook.

Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, life sciences, and energy the companies – both public and private – in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth during the period from 2012 – 2016.

Red Herring

Red Herring has named Evolve IP as one of the Top 100 Companies in North America. Red Herring’s Top 100 recognizes the leading and most promising private companies from around the world. Among the over 20 criteria used to analyze companies for the award, Evolve IP was noted for its financial performance, technological innovation, customer footprint, the DNA of its founders and addressable market.

Red Herring selects the award winners for North America from approximately 1,200 privately financed companies each year in the US and Canada. Since 1996, Red Herring has kept tabs on these organizations and its editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, Palo Alto Networks and eBay would change the way we live and work.

Entrepreneur

Evolve IP has been recognized as one of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” in Entrepreneur magazine’s Entrepreneur360™ Performance Index, a study involving a comprehensive analysis of private companies in America. Based on this study forged by Entrepreneur, Evolve IP is recognized as a company that exemplifies growth, not just in top and bottom line, but in sustainability and the ability to achieve lasting success.

According to Entrepreneur, after evaluating approximately 10,000 U.S. based firms, the team of editors and researchers behind the E360 Performance Index collected more than 250 pieces of data from the finalists, focusing on growth drivers and challenges, goal setting, resource allocations, and reward systems. The analysis uncovered a class of leading companies, including Evolve IP, whose continued success is largely based on superior value creation for their customers, building an adaptive learning culture, and aggressive geographic expansion—placing them amongst the most dynamic firms in America today.

Latest Press Releases

WAYNE, Pa.—March 12, 2018—Evolve IP, The Cloud Strategy Company™, today announced that it has been named one of the best entrepreneurial companies in America by Entrepreneur Magazine. Evolve IP is now a…